A New Understanding
by Inula helenium
Summary: Before the order comes to collect Harry after his sixth year, Aunt Petunia is killed in a car crash. The protection is broken, and Harry grabs Dudley and apparates away before the Deatheaters catch them. Harry and Dudley have adventures and reconcile.


**Story Summary:** Before the order comes to collect Harry in the summer after his sixth year, Aunt Petunia is killed in a car crash. The protection is broken, and Harry grabs Dudley and apparates away before the Deatheaters catch them. I want to cover the relationship between Dudley and Harry; Harry coming to terms with his past, and Dudley-well, he doesn't become brilliant and suddenly gain magic, but trials like the ones he undergoes can toughen a person up, and force them to use their mind. Also, he starts to get a sense of what Harry's life is like.

Disclaimer: The world and the characters and anything else that you recognize is J. K. Rowling's. I'm just playing in it.

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><p>Harry lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. The Order of the Phoenix was coming soon to pick him up. In a few days, he would leave Privet Drive, never to see it again.<p>

He was bored. As the Dursleys mostly just ignored him these days, he had nothing to do. In between bouts of worry and depression—Dumbledore was gone, and he, Harry, had no idea where to start in his quest for the Horcruxes—Harry was in a state of dull listlessness. Dudley was downstairs watching T.V., and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were out shopping for a new barbecue. Harry had heard them bickering about what brand to buy as they headed out the door. Harry couldn't care less, although he might have been slightly more interested when he was younger and expected to do the cooking.

...

It was late evening. The sun was setting, and shadows stretched across the room. Harry went downstairs to fix himself something to eat.

Suddenly, he heard a great crash. Harry jumped to his feet and dashed to the window. Outside, he saw a car crashed into a street light. It was the Dursley's car, and his aunt and uncle were still inside. Harry threw open the door and rushed out to the car. Uncle Vernon had been hit by the airbag and temporarily knocked out. Harry turned to Aunt Petunia. With a sickening lurch in his stomach, he saw that her neck was at an odd angle, her eyes had a glassy look in them, and she was not breathing. Aunt Petunia was dead.

Harry felt as if he were going to be sick. He ran to the house to call the ambulance, the fire department...someone. However, as he picked up the phone and prepared to dial, he heard a familiar-sounding cracking noise.

It could be the Order of the Phoenix, but then, it could be something worse, and when he looked out the window, he saw the ominous shape of a figure with a dark robe and mask on his face. With a sinking feeling, Harry realized that Aunt Petunia's death must have broken his mother's blood protection on the house. Harry ran upstairs to grab his wand and Hedwig, and was about to apparate away, but then he remembered, Dudley! As much as he detested him, he couldn't let the Death Eaters get to him—his stomach revolted when he remembered some of the tortures that the Death Eaters put Muggles through for recreation. Quickly going downstairs, he saw that the commotion had disturbed Dudley, who had turned away from the television, and was staring out the window, pale with fright.

Just then, Harry heard a great bang, and the door was broken in. Harry yelled "Dudley!", and grabbed his cousin's arm. Dudley, wild with fear, tried to yank away, but Harry hissed,

"Don't be stupid, they're coming to kill us!" Then, with a huge effort, Harry apparated away just as the first Death Eater came through the foyer door.

...

Harry apparated to the first place he could think of, and when he looked around, he saw the zoo where he had accidentally set a boa constrictor on Dudley. That reminded him of his companion.

Dudley was not moving, and was obviously still in a state of shock. Harry waited a few moments to give Dudley time to calm down a bit. Then, he opened his mouth to speak, when Dudley abruptly said,

"What did you do? What happened to mum and dad? Who were those people?"

"I apparated here, which is a way for wizards to travel from place to place instantly. I had to, so we could escape those people.

Harry took a deep breath, and spoke as calmly as he could.

"Remember Voldemort? We talked about him when you, er, when the dementors attacked us."

Dudley nodded.

"Well, those were his followers. They're called Death eaters, and if they catch you, they'd kill you, and take me to Voldemort, who would torture, then kill me. I had to get us both away before they could get us."

Harry briefly considered how to tell Dudley about his parents. Dudley was in shock now, but he was slowly calming down, and would probably blame Harry for their deaths—Vernon was probably dead by now, or would be soon. He started to answer, but Dudley spoke first,

"Are my parents dead?" He asked bluntly.

Harry opened his mouth and closed it again and nodded.

"Yeah, Aunt Petunia was killed when the car crashed into the lamppost. I was going to call the ambulance when the Death eaters came. He's probably dead by now. Because my mum died to save me, as long as I lived with Aunt Petunia, her blood protected me and nobody who wanted to hurt me could get to me. When she was killed, the protection was broken, and that's how they could find the house."

Dudley said,

"So you came here."

Harry wasn't sure what Dudley was thinking. Was he blaming Harry for his parents dying, or did he still not understand what happened?

"Yeah." Harry said, "I didn't have time to do anything else. They would have caught us."

Dudley stared at Harry for a long moment, and then said,

"You came back. To get me. I saw you run up to your room."

"Er, yeah." Replied Harry, a bit confused.

"You saved my life. Like the time the dementor tried to kill me."

"Actually, it was just trying to suck out your soul." Harry said, curious. He had been sure that Dudley would blame him, but it seems like Dudley was actually grateful. He didn't think that he could be any more surprised, but was proven wrong when Dudley said,

"Thanks. I know you would have helped my parents if you could too."

"Blimey, Dudley" Harry said, shocked, "did the dementors blow a new personality into you?"

Dudley shifted, and mumbled, "Maybe."

"I'm sorry about your parents," said Harry. He was, though. He wouldn't wish losing their parents on anyone, even Dudley as he had been. He didn't feel sorry that he would never see Uncle Vernon again, but despite all his daydreams when Vernon had locked him in his cupboard, or throttled him, Harry had not wished death on the man. And Aunt Petunia was his last connection to his mother, though she had never shown him any affection.

Dudley nodded.

It was getting dark, and Harry and Dudley could not stay in the zoo indefinitely. Harry needed a place to go, and Harry decided that their best chance was to apparate to the Burrow.

"Dudley," he said, "I'm going to apparate to a friend's house." He neglected to mention that the friend in question's brothers had fed Dudley the ton-tongue coffee. "I need you to grab my arm.

Dudley took hold of Harry's arm with a large, pudgy hand. He was trembling softly. Harry felt a small pang of sympathy—Dudley was really scared of magic. Harry, took a deep breath, and prepared to apparate.

However, instead of the constricting feeling that Harry had expected, he and Dudley were still both standing in the zoo. Harry tried again, but it was no use. He realized with a sinking feeling, that side-along apparition was harder than it seemed, and that he had only managed it in the heat of the moment.

"Dudley? I'm too tired to apparate, so we can't go to my friend's house like I thought." Said Harry. "We'll try again tomorrow, but we can't stay here. We've got to get to the nearest hotel."

About a half hour later, Harry and Dudley had a room of their own in a cheap, dingy, hotel room—they had paid with Dudley's weekly allowance which was in his pocket and he hadn't spent yet.

Harry sighed. He wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't apparate without leaving Dudley, and he had never learned to Patronus message. _I really need to learn how to do that._ He wrote sent an owl to Hermione and Ron, saying that he was safe—he didn't dare put their location into the letter in case it fell into the wrong hands. Resolving to think about it in the morning, Harry went to sleep.

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><p><strong>And that's the end of the first chapter! Please read and review!<strong>


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